A Day of Rest

Calvin gets a new neighbor just in time for Christmas. As Calvin becomes friends with Erin and her daughter Lillian, Calvin's favorite teacher, Mr. Faddis, gets hired to be Santa Claus for his building. But both Calvin and Erin become suspects when Mr. Faddis is found murdered.

Who killed Mr. Faddis? The Fifth Floor.

 

 

October 4, 1967

All that fuss because Wilberforce has to write a thank you note? He probably could've gotten that letter written in the time it took him to struggle, be picked up, and carried to the writing desk.

Someone has sapped the soul completely out of today's strip!

It's actually just a weird glitch where the black doesn't come through.

I'm not a baseball person but this is one of the many appropriate ways to celebrate Labor Day. As long as you are not working, then you are doing it appropriately. I just hope your chair is more comfortable than Brutus' looks.

Ha Ha Laugh

August 17, 1967

I don't know about you, but I feel Wilberforce needs to be beaten up after this game. It must be a light rain with no lightening. Although it is the 60s. Being struck by lightening probably built character or something.

How does Wilberforce not know what a laugh track is? Was he born yesterday? I mean, I agree. Laugh tracks are the Devil and unnecessary, but I don't know, maybe it's a short-term memory thing...

 

 

 

 

 

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Tuesday Quickies

For the last couple of years, I have been working to turn Tank N Tummy into a novel. Combining the Zeke & Harry stories of Tank N Tummy and the real life lives of early Kansas settlers, it's taking a lot of research and work which is why I'm also working on a young adult novel and another novel that suddenly popped into my head that I am three quarters of the way through.

Anyway, from 2001, but published here in 2010, Zeke, Harry, and their friends investigate an old cemetery and abandoned house for ghosts and demons while the story of the family that lived in the house is told.

July 13, 1967

You are not standing on the base and clearly haven't tagged Brutus so I'm thinking that ball is still in play and this guy needs to do something about it. Get up, Brutus, you still have a chance to make it to the base!

Hate to break it to you, Brutus, but you are still talking to yourself. The readers aren't in the comic with you.

Tick Tock and You Don't Stop

May 24, 1967

Why is the food in the line of the baseball field? Why is Veeblefester (R.W. Veeblefester, Pres.) sitting so close to the table with the punch on it? I like how Veeblefester is a money grubber, as seen in the many dollar signs he's thinking about, but 1960s corporate etiquette demands he still hosts an annual picnic. Thankfully, President Reagan will help get rid of that little annoyance.

Is...Is Gladys the clock?

Is that clock in the middle of the room?

Did we really need a visual interpretation of "tick tock"?

There wasn't a better gold color than "burning pee yellow"?

It's Already 6 - 0?!!

May 20, 1967

The size of the hat explains maybe three of the cards lying there, but not the others or the one currently in the air and completely off-target.

I'm sure there are better uses for those cards. Play some solitaire...

I could've sworn Wilberforce played the outfield. I guess Wilberforce can play both, but Wilberforce being pitcher seems...wrong, somehow.

We still have eight more innings of this humiliation.

I Agree, You Should Gravely Injure Him

February 28, 1988

This is why no one goes to church anymore, Father. On the flip side, at the park I work at, we have an old church with a bell that visitors can actually ring. The way that their eyes light up and how it captures everyone's attention (one time, it even lured an elderly woman with a walker to want to see inside the church) makes me think that maybe we should go back to ringing large bells to signal the start of Sunday.

Is Wilberforce actually a decent pitcher, it's just the batters are usually better at hitting the ball? That completely upends how good I think Wilberforce is at sports.

And of course Masher McGee is good. His parents named him Masher. That's his name! If it were a nickname, it'd have quotes around it. He's a nine-year-old boy named Masher.

The Thornapples All Live In a Yellow Submarine Apparently

May 11, 1967

Does only Wilberforce know the names of his friends? Harry, Leroy are actual names "Weakeyes" and "Noodle-Nose" aren't even nicknames, they're just insults.

And who is who?!

Does...Does Brutus really believe this about himself? Brutus would be the first to admit that he is none of these things. "I can talk bad about myself, but you can't! You don't have that right!!"

She Just Has to Sit There While It Happens

What? Ten months? Baseball has only been over since October (five months) and, obviously, last year's baseball season started one year ago (12 months). Where do we get ten months from?

I don't understand people who like baseball, especially people like Brutus. Baseball is exciting? Ok. Sure. And Brutus, you've been married to Gladys for *mumbles random number* years. Has she ever been excited for the opening of baseball season?

Wilberforce and Gladys Must Be Off On One of Their Adventures Again

August 25, 1966

I am on record that credit and credit scores are stupid and should be illegal. I guess I should go ahead and go on record that loans and interest rates are garbage as well. You shouldn't be paying more on interest than the amount you owe. And once you essentially pay off the equivalent of the principal, the interest goes away and you just continue to pay on the principal. Anyway, just another reason I will never elected to public office.

Congrats on Thornapple paying back his loan. I don't understand why loan people are such smarmy pieces of shit. You gave me $7000 and I paid you $8500 so how about you keep your attitude to yourself?

"Absolutely! I don't even know why I'm watching this crap," I say. "Let's get some snacks and really make this an afternoon! Maybe we still have some ice cream!"

People Don't Want to Hear About Your Dreams

August 2, 1966

Did the pitcher hate Thornapple that much? Does Thornapple's head take up too much space on plate? Hey, there are guys in the showers back there!

I like the idea of Thornapple bouncing around whatever jobs are needed to make the joke work. He's not just stuck at a tea cozy company. I guess you can't have a wife and kid and have a new job every day. He's not Homer Simpson.

Is there a carbon monoxide leak in this house...? Why doesn't Gladys know what extra innings are?!

So is Brutus fired? I know it doesn't matter because he'll just be back at work tomorrow like some sort of sick Sisyphean punishment, but it's so hard to keep track of these things.

I Don't Think Your Boss Can Talk To You That Way

June 30, 1966

It is a good thing that window was open. The broken glass could've shaved this man's face off.

Is Veeblefester upset because he only has one bag of money on his desk today? Somehow Brutus kept Veeblefester from having two or more bags of money on his desk?

Late Night Quickies

June 16, 1966

Ok, sir. Get back in your car. Just wait for the police. You don't need to beat this guy into a bloody pulp. Let his insurance do it.

How does he fit into that car? "Everyone deserves to drive an automobile, even the very tall..."

It's nice that Brutus always goes into Wilberforce talking about playing sports believing he won. Maybe someday Wilberforce will win one.

What does playing an "intersquad game" have to do with anything in this strip?

O...K...?

I am against AI. No one is stopping you from creating anything, just start creating. Oh, it's not good? Well, keep working at it and you'll get better. But I'm also against AI helping us learn things. ChatGPT isn't a search engine and it will just make things up. The screenshot to the left is a list of 10 "lesser-known facts about Snoopy". Clearly, much of it is gathered from AI. It was posted to one of those non-official random Facebook Pages that anyone can create and no one was calling it out despite being weirdly incorrect about a lot of it. Let's go through it, shall we?

1. Snoopy doesn't have a full name and if he did, it wouldn't be "Snoopy Von Peanuts" as Schulz was not quiet about how much he hated the name "Peanuts".

2. While Snoopy was inspired was Schulz's dog, Spike, Spike was an English Pointer. Spike (drawn by Schulz) actually appeared in a "Ripley's Believe It or Not" comic about being able to eat nails. Andy, Schulz's favorite dog, was a mixed breed.

3. Snoopy wasn't always a dog? He was, but clearly the AI got confused because Snoopy originally started out as a regular dog who seemed to roam the neighborhood. It took awhile to establish that he was really Charlie Brown's dog and even long to turn Snoopy into the character we all know today.

4. Snoopy does have an entire family. You may have seen his family tree popping up around the internet. Snoopy's family consists of siblings Andy, Olaf, Rover, Spike, Marbles, Molly, and Belle. Belle also has a son, giving Snoopy a nephew.

5. Snoopy's favorite food, at least based on appearances in the strip, are chocolate chip cookies.

6. It's weird that the most complicated fact is also the most correct. The World War I Flying Ace is probably Snoopy's most famous alter ego having appeared in "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown". But is it a "lesser-known fact"?

7. Another correct fact. Peanuts first debuted on October 2, 1950, with Snoopy making his first appearance on October 4.

8. He's a global icon. Yeah, this is also correct.

9. The Peanuts television specials began in 1965 with "A Charlie Brown Christmas", but the first Peanuts feature film was "A Boy Named Charlie Brown" in 1969. "Snoopy Come Home" was the second.

10. While Snoopy is shown typing on top of his doghouse trying to write the great American novel, "expert in typing" is odd phrasing. What is his words per minute? How accurate is he?

May 26, 1966

Ugh, why is that water fountain so close to Veeblefetzer's office? Just so he can harass his employees? Seems like a very specific bit for someone who has "Don't Tread on Me" written on his door.

I looked this up and nothing was helpful. I just want to point out how pissed off people get when it looks like our sports are being rigged. Pine tar. Deflategate. Doping. Pete Rose.

Hair-Brained

May 4, 1966

I don't think there's ever been a time where people wanted to hear criticism of how they do things. Especially when you are the one in charge. I don't know why people they would know better than Birdie Tebbets, whose life was baseball for 30 years. Yes, George "Birdie" Tebbets was a real person! He was a catcher who was very good at directing the pitchers. Tebbets played from 1936 until 1952 and then managed from 1954 until 1966. I don't know, maybe what this guy said sunk it considering Tebbets would retire from the Cleveland Indians after the 1966 season. He would continue being a scout for various teams until his retirement in 1997. Birdie Tebbets would pass away in 1999 at 86.

I guess we're just ignoring all of Kewpie's fur that is on his head and focusing on the two longer hairs that I always figured were oddly placed eyelashes/eyebrows.

Why are they just staring at Kewpie?

Prodigious Blast?

December 21, 1986

I've never had to give a speech before. I know me, and I know I wouldn't like it. The closest I've come is I had to give a little speech to run for sheriff of this fake city my class took a field trip to in middle school. I was not elected sheriff, but instead was hired as a meter reader. My speech trying to garner votes of my fellow classmates clearly did not resonate.

I spent hours on my speech and read it. I didn't leave it up to ad-libbing because all that gets me is a panic attack.

The Weasels are so bad, the coach doesn't even bring a second ball to practice. Also, the coach just lost $8 because of Wilberforce.

Maybe the ball rolled into a alternate realm of fantastical creatures?

All aboard the Candy Line Express! If you would like to support me or this website, you can throw some money my way.

Did Brutus Take Off Work for Opening Day?

April 28, 1966

So that beautiful woman is going to hook up with Harry here? I probably shouldn't scoff. Harry, as much as I hate to admit it, kind of looks like me.

Hey, Tallulah, if you'd quit posing on that couch, Bertha could have a seat, too. Are these two women friends or what's going on here?

Hey, readers, it's baseball opening day. The crack of the bat, the roar of the crowd. That's right, baseball's back! The boys of summer and The Born Loser a winning team! There. That's over. Although I do believe we will see several more baseball-themed comics over the next seven(!!??!!) months.

Excite Is Such a Strong Word

March 8, 1966

I vaguely remember an old friend of mine having a boomerang when we were kids. I think I saw it once, it did not return, and I never saw it again. I'm sure having a non-returning boomerang was a real kick in the butt to our childhood because why would cartoons lie to us, but non-returning boomerangs exist and mainly just used to wallop people and things. Since this boomerang is curved, it seems to be a returning boomerang, but one could argue that this man is being hunted for sport.

I'm thrilled. Baseball is my favorite of the sports I hate.

Why is the news(?) showing the equipment leaving? Is there demand for that? I know the country is on fire right now what with the coup of an unelected South African billionaire and his gaggle of half-pint sidekicks, but the equipment, not the actual team, on their way to Goodyear, Arizona is not even "feel-good news".

👅

February 19, 1966

Thornapple can take a baseball to the mouth which is pretty good. He's going to need medical attention to remove the baseball and fix his teeth, but at least that doesn't affect his playing.

The Cleveland Spiders were a real team!! A very old team. They competed between 1887 and 1899. Apparently, the Spiders were a very good until 1899 when most the roster (which included a name I actually recognize, Cy Young) were sent to other teams. The Spider finished the season 20-134, which is still a major league record. The next worst team win-loss record is the 1965 Mets 40-120. The Spiders returned for a 1914-1916 season when the Toledo Mud Hens moved to Cleveland becoming the Bearcats (1914-1915) and then the Spiders (1915-1916) before moving back to Toledo.

Another interesting thing, the Cleveland Spiders reportedly have the distinction of employing the first Native American baseball player, Louis Sockalexis. He played for the Spiders from 1897 to 1899. According to Cleveland fans, Sockalexis was the person who suggested naming Cleveland's new major league baseball team the Indians, though that is disputed. Sadly, Sockalexis was not appreciated during his time and was called racial slurs and confronted with war whoops and dances when at bat. Sockalexis was also an alcoholic which hurt his image due to the stereotype of "Indian weakness". Sockalexis would die of tuberculosis in 1913 at the age of 42.

me: *keeps looking around, trying to peer around the borders of the panel* WHO ARE YOU TALKING TO??!!

It's a stupid comic strip pet peeve of mine. If your character is going to essentially talk to themselves, put those words in a thought bubble. I know thought bubbles aren't something this strip does, but still...

Even assuming the Thornapples have a coffee maker that has a schedule and can immediately go downstairs and pour herself a cup of coffee right away, the toothpaste taste doesn't last that long. At least for me. Maybe I'm doing something wrong.

Drama-Free Dog

December 18, 1965

More crime in these early strips! There are only two constants in these early strips: Crime and death.

Can none of these people who get overpowered and tied up fight back? There's a couple where it's possible they were asleep. This guy was at work!

July 27, 2024

Two strips in a row talking about smoke detectors going off.

DINNER BELL!?!? Who still rings a dinner bell to announce it's time for dinner? It is 2024 for goodness sake.

Kewpie seems like my kind of dog. Rarely barks, doesn't try to jump over the fence in order to eat the neighbors, lazy, genderqueer/non-binary.

Is Uncle Ted over at Brutus' or did Brutus take Kewpie to Uncle Ted's?

The Other Team's Coach Also Tells His Players to Move In

We're going back to look at the short-lived Golden Age comic book character, The Cat Man by June Tarpé Mills. This story is taken from his first appearance in Amazing Man #5 in 1939. I like the premise of the story and it gave us this amazing quote pictured here. There's also some old Sunday comics for you and Gladys in a horrible "Super Mom" sweatshirt.

May 18, 1986

Veeblefester's tennis partner broke his hip? He'll be dead within months. I used to be pretty good at tennis. I think it was mostly because I took it seriously while most everybody else in high school goofed around. Is Brutus confusing tennis with another sport or does he and Wilberforce not play with a net?

Hey! Veeblefester knows/remembers that Wilberforce is Brutus' kid!

For some reason, I figured today would be a rerun. I love Brutus' skepticism and concern in the next to last panel. "Really? In what context?" You are not ambidextrous and definitely favor your right hand. Do I need to have a talk with this coach? Is this how I'm going to spend my Sunday? Beating up a pervert?

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